Changes
by some1lostme
Summary: It’s been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character’s POV.
1. Nick

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**A/N: **This is a future-fic. And it is not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine. Oh, and please review!

**NICK**

Seven months. It had been seven months since he had been taken; seven months since he had been found. And in those months, everything had changed, or maybe it had just gone back to normal, Nick Stokes wasn't really sure how to describe the things going on around him now.

"Sara, hand me a bindle, please," Grissom's voice was muffled by the thick oak table which he was currently on his hands and knees under.

Sara placed an evidence bindle in his outstretched hand and turned back to her work.

Nick watched her closely from across the room. The small smile on her face seemed to be permanently plastered there this evening and he could have sworn that she was singing along with the radio on the ride to their scene. This was Sara. She was back. The old Sara. Their Sara. The Sara that smiled and laughed and sang under her breath. The same Sara that read her supervisor's mind, the one that finished his thoughts and actions.

Things had definitely changed.

"-half a print, thumb maybe, on the edge of the table," Sara was saying, not really speaking directly to either of her co-workers, but to both of them at the same time, "Did you find anything, Nick?"

When he didn't respond, Sara looked up from her work, finding her friend staring at her.

"Do I have something on my face?" she asked, her smirk growing when Nick blinked and muttered a, "Huh?"

"You were staring at me," Sara told him.

Grissom was on his feet again, standing a few feet away from Sara, and he glanced up at the young CSI.

"You ok, Poncho?" he asked quietly.

It had been that way for seven months now. Since the minute Grissom had found him, since he'd realized that the coffin he was lying in was wired with enough explosive to kill them all, Nick had been Poncho. It was, Nick figured, Grissom's way of letting him know that he was his own person, that he was special to his supervisor in someway. He wasn't just another CSI. He was his CSI. As were Warrick, Greg, Sara and Catherine, even if Catherine was technically his equal; they were still Grissom's team.

Nick nodded, knowing that the other man thought that his thoughts had fallen back to the "incident", as they all referred to it.

"I'm cool, just thinking about something," he told them.

Sara raised an eyebrow, "I don't know, Nick. I don't think I wanna know what you were thinking about me, staring like that."

Nick grinned. _Oh yeah, she's back._

"Please, Sar, I see you as nothing more than my little sister," Nick said, his grin broadening as he noticed Grissom's tense frame relax slightly. He knew that his supervisor was used to their banter, but it still bothered him when anyone of the male members of the nightshift joked with Sara about anything he found threatening.

Sara laughed a little, shaking her head and turning back to lifting the print she'd been working on. Grissom resumed working also, but Nick continued to watch them for a minute. He watched the way the danced, slowly, perfectly, neither of them missing a step. She moved around the table, one step behind him, now photographing each spot on the floor where Grissom had placed an evidence marker, and he moved in front of her, not moving to quickly, but not slow enough that she was catching up with him. Nick had seen them work this way so many times before, but that had been nearly three years ago, in the first couple of years that Sara had worked with them. The last year or so had been so hard on her and Sara had all but given up…

But then she changed. She was back. She had come into work one night, five months early, and she was different. She was Sara. She wasn't the cold, depressed version of Sara that had taken over the body of the vibrant, strong woman who had come to Vegas. Sara laughed and smiled and talked with her friends. She considered her co-workers her friends. The woman that had taken a hold of her hadn't. She thought of them as co-workers, and ones that she couldn't even trust.

Nick shook off his thoughts as Sara's camera flashed again, turning back to work, filing away what he had witnessed for later. He would talk to Catherine and Warrick when he got back to the lab.


	2. Catherine

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**CATHERINE**

Gil Grissom had been her friend for years, more than Catherine cared to admit. Anything that aged her was not something that made her happy these days. But she knew Gil well, better than anyone probably. His own mother surely didn't know him as well as she did. They had never dated. That was the first thing that people assumed when Catherine mentioned her colleague. She hated that. Gil just wasn't her type. He wasn't… outgoing, or spontaneous. Gil Grissom was personal and boring. God, did she hate boring men. But Gil was a great friend. That she did love about him.

She watched him. He was in his kitchen, if it could be called that, mixing her a drink while cooking there dinner. These get-togethers of theirs had been his idea, a shock to her, but a welcomed one. In all honesty, they had started to drift apart, what with the team being split up, and their many sudden disagreements about a certain brunette on graveyard. Close friends shouldn't drift, that's how Catherine felt about it anyway.

"Screwdriver, on the rocks," Grissom was suddenly standing in front of her and Catherine smiled at him as she took the glass from his hand.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Grissom moved back to the kitchen and Catherine went back to her thoughts.

When Nick had come to her the other day, she had been expecting it. He had asked the question that she had been waiting for someone to ask her for months. He wanted to know if something was going on with Grissom… if he seemed different to her somehow. She had shrugged, saying that she hadn't noticed anything. Ha. That had been a load of bull. Gil Grissom was suddenly a new man. Or, an old man, the old version of himself. The one who smiled and joked with his team. The one that loved his work and could spend days trying to solve a mystery, no matter how insignificant it seemed to anyone else. For some reason unbeknownst to her, Gil Grissom, world-renowned entomologist, was in full swing again.

Catherine snorted at her own thoughts and took a sip of her drink.

Gil was damn good at hiding things. He'd been doing it since the day they'd met. Hell, he could hide a body in plane sight and get away with it. But this, whatever it was, it was big. He obviously wasn't trying to hide the fact that he had changed, but he was doing a damn good job of hiding what had changed him.

"So, wanna tell me what's got you so damn chipper lately?" she asked, glaring at him over the edge of her rocks glass.

Gil smirked, "Chipper, Catherine? Really, I don't do chipper."

"Well I don't know what it is then, but you do a damn good impression of someone I used to know," she said, sitting her glass on his coffee table. She noticed that it wasn't the one he used to have. When had he gotten new furniture? She shook her head, "And you know, I liked that guy, and I kept asking myself why he decided to leave… I just thought you should know, I'm not the only one who's glad that he's back."

She watched Gil for a moment, his eyes lowered as he worked on their meal. He didn't say anything, but she knew by his posture that her words had an effect on him.

Catherine looked around, deciding that they didn't need to discuss it any further. He had gotten the point. Instead, she took in the other changes that had been made to his townhouse since the last time she'd been there.

The large dining table was still there, three large bookshelves against the wall behind it, still overflowing with volumes that she knew he'd read a dozen times. The couch she was lounging on was new. It was dark blue, covered in some soft fabric that she was tempted to analyze, resting in the same spot where the old leather one had been, under the window. An over-sized chair sat near the sofa, near enough to the new coffee table that someone could prop their feet up on it. There was a new television, a flat screen, hanging on the wall opposite the chair, and Catherine knew right away that Gil had not picked the items out on his own.

"Decided to redecorate a little, huh?" she asked non-chalantly, smiling down into her glass.

"Yeah, I decided I needed new furniture to go with my new personality," he deadpanned.

Catherine laughed then, propping her feet up on the coffee table and taking the plate he offered. She waited for him to sit down beside her before she started eating. She glanced at him once a few moments later and he smiled back at her. This was definitely a welcomed change.


	3. Sara

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**SARA**

Nick knew. She knew it the minute she'd caught him staring at her. He knew. He knew things had changed and now she was nervous. Paranoid really. What if they got caught? What if Ecklie found out? Would he fire them both? Would he fire her? She was shaking she was so nervous. She was shaking so hard that when he took her hand in his and tugged her off of the couch she barely noticed.

"Honey, what is it? What's wrong?" his voice was so full of concern and she shook her head even and her stomach lurched.

"I think he knows," she muttered, barely able to stand the words coming from her own mouth, "He knows everything."

"Sara, what are you talking about? Who knows what?" Grissom asked, pulling her closer to him and leading her down the hall.

"Nick, I think he knows about us, Griss," she said softly, "Did you see the way he was staring at me last night? He knows."

Grissom sat her down on the edge of the bed and began to rummage through the drawers of Sara's dresser.

"I think Catherine has some idea," he told her calmly.

Why was he being so damn calm! People knew, and others were bound to find out!

"And it doesn't matter to you? It doesn't bother you that she knows? That Nick knows?" she asked, suddenly wondering why the hell he didn't seem to care that their relationship may be at risk, not to mention both of their careers.

"Sara, honey, do you honestly think that Nick and Catherine would tell anyone? I mean, neither of them is certain of anything, they have no evidence, so what makes you think that your best friend or mine would tell anyone that they think that something is going on between us?"

He was right. She knew that he was. She was having a minor panic attack. No surprise there, that seemed to be happening a lot these days. It had happened that morning, when she was getting dressed, seeing herself in a full length mirror. Things had definitely changed.

"You need to sleep, Sara."

Grissom interrupted her thoughts again and she glanced up at him, standing in front of her in only his boxers as he helped her out of her clothes. When she was left in nothing but her bra and panties, she stood up as he pulled the blankets back for her, and then climbed into the bed. Finding the warm wall of her lover's chest, Sara curled up and closed her eyes.

"Gil?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too, honey. Both of you, now go to sleep."

With their hands entwined and resting over their unborn child, both mother and father were quickly able to find sleep.

_

* * *

She hadn't been expecting anyone. She had come straight home from work, changed into her favorite pair of Harvard sweats, and grabbed a carton of New York Super Fudge Chunk from the freezer._

_Her shift had been difficult. Tammy Hayden, seventeen and in the system, had been missing for forty six hours when they found her remains on the side of I-15. Sara had taken it hard. Harder than anyone else who had worked it with her. Grissom and Greg had both shown sympathy for the girl and her family, but neither of them had been as pained as Sara._

_The knock on her door resounded throughout her entire apartment and she would have screamed if she were that jumpy. Instead, she rolled her eyes in irritation and removed herself from the comfort of her warm, feather top bed. She had just settled down to watch some cheesy romantic comedy on WE and whoever had interrupted her was about to get an earful._

_When Sara reached her front door, she yanked it open with a little more force then necessary, only to have her anger fade when she saw who it was that had come to visit her._

_"Grissom."_

_He gave her a weak smile and she let her eyes trail over him. He was still dressed in his work clothes and his hair was slightly tousled. He looked as though he'd fallen asleep fully dressed and she couldn't quite figure out why he was standing at her door._

_"Well, my jobs either on the line or someone drugged your coffee," she deadpanned, stepping aside to let him into her apartment. _

_"Your job is not on the line," Grissom told her, standing in the middle of her living room as she closed the door behind him, "And if Greg somehow slipped something into my coffee, he'd better be looking for a job and thinking of joining witness protection."_

_Sara couldn't help but laugh at the image of Grissom chasing Greg through the hall of the lab. She had to admit, Grissom joking with her was something that she missed, and having him in her apartment was somewhat comforting. _

_"Well, as believable as that may seem, I highly doubt that Greg risked putting something in you coffee, Griss, so what are you doing here?" Sara asked, her arms immediately crossing protectively over her chest._

_Grissom didn't turn to her. He continued to stare at the wall behind her sofa and she wondered what he was so focused on. She watched his shoulders rise and fall and she thought that maybe his breathing was becoming slightly erratic. He didn't seem like he was doing well._

_"Griss-"_

_"Why do you love me so much?"_

_The question came out of nowhere and nearly knocked her off of her feet. Sara's jaw went slack and she moved around to stand in front of him. She wanted to see his face._

_"Excuse me?"_

_He looked up and when their eyes met, Sara could see that his were red and raw with emotion. Something had happened to him. In the short amount of time that she'd been away from the lab, something must have happened. He certainly wouldn't have come here otherwise._

_"I need to know, Sara," his voice was low and harsh, "I need to know why you love me. What is it about me that you're so able to… to reach out to? To love? Please, I have to know."_

_"I-I don't know, exactly," Sara stuttered, "I don't know many people who can define love, Grissom. There are so many things that I love about you."_

_"Do you want to know what I love about you?"_

_Sara's heart seemed to stop beating. Her breathing was suddenly erratic and she felt as though her knees would give way. Had he really said what she thought that he had? Did she hear him right?"_

_"You love me?" she muttered, not sure that she should ask, fearing that he would turn away from her, that he would take it back._

_"Yes."_

_It seemed so simple. He didn't have to think about it, didn't need time to decide. He just knew. He knew that he loved her. He knew that he'd just admitted it._

_Sara stood there, shocked into silence. He was moving toward her, taking a mere few steps and taking her in her arms._

_"I don't know when I haven't loved you, Sara."_

_And before she could say anything in response, Grissom's lips were on hers and she was crushing her to him. Her world was turning upside down, but it felt incredible._


	4. Grissom

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**GRISSOM**

**Three Months Earlier**

_Sara hadn't come out of the bathroom. He was standing there in the kitchen, staring down the hall, wondering what had happened to her. _

_They had been sitting at the table, having coffee and scrambled eggs, when Sara had suddenly gotten up and run down the hall. That had been fifteen minutes ago._

_"Sara? Honey?"_

_She didn't respond and Gil started to worry. _

_He deposited his coffee cup in the sink and moved slowly down the hall toward the bathroom._

_They had been staying the last few nights in his townhouse while cleaning out her apartment. It had been a spur of the moment decision, moving in together, but things seemed to be working out fine. Mornings were sometimes difficult, if they had been working separate cases and either of them was having a bad day, it was hard to let the walls down and separate work from home._

_Reaching the bathroom door, Gil found it locked and he knocked softly. _

_"Sara, sweetheart, are you all right? What's going on?"_

_She didn't answer again and he knocked louder._

_"Sara, you're scaring me, answer me," he could feel himself shaking._

_For a moment, he was silent and he house became eerily so._

_Then the lock turned, and the door opened, and Sara threw herself into his arms and cried._

He watched her sleep. He loved watching her sleep. She was so beautiful and he often kicked himself for all of the days that he missed waking up with her beside him. But today was not one of those days. Today he thanked God for giving her to him.

Gil Grissom had never considered himself to be a lucky man. He wasn't one to believe in luck. He believed in evidence and hard work and the things that were tangible. Never had he believed that Sara Sidle could love him. But she did, and here they were.

He watched her sleep.

Things between them had progressed so quickly but, for the first time in his life, it didn't matter. He had been given a second chance at life, at love, with this woman, and he wasn't planning on screwing up again. In a matter of months, they had made love for the first time, moved in together, and Sara had become pregnant. And he wouldn't change a minute of it.

Grissom entered the break room, file open in his hands, humming quietly to himself. He put the file down on the table and turned to the coffee pot, still humming. He continued to make his coffee and proceeded to sit down at the table, only stopping when he turned and realized that Greg was staring at him.

"Greg," he said calmly, clearing his throat and sitting across from the younger CSI at the table.

Greg didn't say anything but Grissom could tell that he wanted to. He was obviously struggling to control his laughter.

"Griss, man, where you just humming?" Greg finally asked, "Cause I think I may have died and gone to Hell."

And then he laughed, uncontrollably from what Grissom could tell.

"Get a hold of yourself, Greg," Grissom barked, attempting to cover his mistake. He picked up his coffee and file and made a show of storming out of the room.

Once in the hall, he slowed down, his heart pounding in rhythm with his head as he tried to think of a way to explain away his good mood. Greg was a good guy, and Grissom, even though he wasn't likely to admit it, really believed he'd be a great CSI. But he couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it. By the time their shift actually began, Grissom was sure that the entire team would've heard that he, the enigmatic Gil Grissom, had been humming in the break room. Rolling his eyes, he dropped into the chair behind his desk.

It was going to be a long night.

He had less than twenty minutes before he was to hand out assignments so he reached for his cell phone and dialed Sara's number.

"Hello?"

"Sara, honey, it's me," he said quietly.

He could hear her smiling over the phone, "I know. I have caller ID, Gil."

He smiled, "Right. Well, I think we may have another problem."

"What kind of problem?" she asked.

"Greg may have a clue that something is different," he explained, "with me at least."

"What did you do?" she asked, feigning exasperation.

He chuckled, "I was … humming."

And then Sara laughed. She laughed and he was happy and he suddenly didn't care if everyone knew that he'd been humming. Hell, he didn't care if everyone knew that he and Sara were having a baby, because he was the one who would hear her laughter.


	5. Greg

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**GREG**

Greg Sanders wasn't an idiot. He knew that the other members of the team considered him the "class clown" of the lab, but he definitely was not an idiot. Nor was he oblivious to the things happening around him.

Gil Grissom did not hum. In the eight years Greg had worked in the Las Vegas Crime Lab, he had never heard Grissom humming. Ever. He had barely seen the man smile, he'd never seen him laugh- really laugh- at anything, hell, Grissom hardly ever smiled anymore. And now he was humming? Something had changed.

Greg moved quietly down the hall. Grissom's office door was cracked open and the light was on inside. He moved with purpose, giving a small wave to Judy as she passed, and he slowed as he reached the cracked door.

"… Honey, it's me," Greg heard Grissom say, "Right, well I think we might have a problem."

Greg smiled. _Damn straight you've got a problem, _he thought.

"Greg may have a clue that something is different," Grissom continued, "With me at least."

Greg listened a moment longer at the door before he knocked, startling Grissom.

"We'll continue this conversation later," he said quickly, slamming the phone down and staring up at Greg, "Yes Greg."

Greg froze for a moment, suddenly losing his nerve, before closing the door behind him and taking a seat across from Grissom.

"So I know that everyone here sort of regards me as the 'king of practical jokes' and that you all think I don't know what the hell is going on," Greg rambled, "But I'm more intuitive than you think."

Grissom's eyebrow went up but he didn't speak and Greg continued.

"I know that something is going on with you and Sara, and I'm not going to say anything to anyone, so don't look at me like that," he said at Grissom's glare, "I just thought that I'd let you know that I know so that you know. Did that make any sense?"

Grissom didn't say anything for a moment and Greg was suddenly worried that maybe he shouldn't have said anything at all. And then Grissom did something that Greg hadn't been expecting. He smiled.

Gil Grissom sat across from Greg Sanders, smiling and shaking his head.

"Greg, no one thinks you are an idiot," Grissom told him, "I especially do not think that you are an idiot. And I'm glad that you came and spoke to me without speaking to everyone else on the team first.

Greg nodded, "So… is there something going on?"

Grissom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Greg, I can't really give you any of the details, but I will do you the favor of telling you that, yes, there is something happening between Sara and myself and I'm asking you to keep it to yourself, because I would like for the two of us to tell the others. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"For you, boss? Anything."


	6. Warrick

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**A/N: **This is a future-fic. And it is not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine. Oh, and please review!

**WARRICK**

_Catherine had called him two days ago just as he was going to bed for the day and he had groused when he saw her number on the caller ID._

_"Hello?"_

_"Warrick, it's Catherine," she sounded very awake and excited about something, "I'm leaving Gil's right now."_

_"And?" Warrick asked, waiting for her to explain why she'd called._

_"And something is definitely going on with him," she told him, sounding almost giddy at the prospect of discovering one of Gil Grissom's many secrets, "His entire townhouse has been redecorated, 'Rick. And I'm not just talking rearranging furniture. He painted every room, bought new furniture, a new TV- he even remodeled the bathroom!"_

_"So he redecorated, Cath, big deal," Warrick told her, muffling a yawn, "Maybe he's just having a mid-life crisis."_

_Catherine snorted at that, "Oh please! This is Grissom we're talking about."_

_"Warrick sighed, "Cath, give it up. If Grissom wanted you to know every detail of his life, he'd tell you. So what? He's got a personal life, good for him, give the man some space."_

_There was a pause before Catherine snapped, "You know something!"_

_Warrick rolled his eyes, "Goodbye, Catherine."_

And he had hung up, shutting off his cell and disconnecting his home phone.

The truth was, he did know what was going on with Grissom. He had meant to find out, but he had, only hours before Catherine had called to gloat about her suspicions. He and Sara had been assigned a 419 with suspicious circs out in Hendersen. When they'd arrived on the scene, no one really had any details for them and they had gone into the house blind. Warrick did the initial walkthrough- Sara having volunteered to take the perimeter- finding nothing to out of the ordinary aside from the bodies of forty-three year old Marianne Cross and her fifteen year old daughter Julia. Neither of the victims had a mark on them which explained the suspicious circs. Warrick continued processing the scene and was joined by Sara a few minutes later.

_"So nothing outside leads me to believe this was a homicide," she said, kneeling down beside Marianne's body, "Did you find anything?"_

_Warrick shook his head, "I'm thinking they were poisoned. I haven't found any evidence of it, but I haven't found any evidence of violence either."_

_"Have you checked the kitchen?" Sara asked, "Toxins under the sink?"_

_"Go for it," Warrick said, gesturing toward the door, "I've been in here the entire time."_

And she had disappeared into the Cross' kitchen. Coming back into the living room a few minutes later to report that she hadn't found anything unusual.

After releasing the bodies to David, they'd gotten to work again. They had spent the better part of an hour combing through the house before Sara suddenly turned pale, clamped her hand over her mouth and ran out the door. Warrick dropped the bindle he'd been holding and followed her out.

When he found her, she'd been standing beside the Denali, doubled over with her hands on her stomach. She had stopped vomiting but the dry heaves were racking her body. Warrick moved closer to her, rubbing her back and standing with her until she stopped shaking.

"_You okay, Sar?" he asked when she'd finally been able to stand up._

_"I- I think so," she muttered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand._

_And Warrick's cell phone rang and he stepped away from Sara to answer it._

_"Brown."_

_"Warrick, it's David. COD on your victims? Carbon monoxide poisoning," the assistant coroner explained._

_"Carbon monoxide?" Warrick repeated, glancing at Sara._

_Her eyes widened and she looked like she might throw up again._

_"Uh, David, I gotta go," Warrick said quickly, hanging up the phone and reaching for Sara as she turned to vomit on the ground._

_"Call Grissom," she rasped between being sick._

And he had and things had gone a little crazy after that. Grissom insisted that Sara be rushed to the emergency room and that he would meet them there. So Warrick drove her and sat in the waiting room until Grissom had arrived. It was in then that he actually found out what was really going on.

Grissom must not have realized that Warrick was sitting near the nurse's station when he approached a nurse and asked for Sara.

"_Excuse me," he had said hurriedly, "I'm looking for my fiancé, her name is Sara_

_Sidle."  
Warrick's jaw dropped slightly._

_"Mr. Grissom, is it? Sara's been asking for you," the nurse told him, "If you'll just follow me."_

_"How is she?" Grissom asked._

_"Miss Sidle's going to be just fine."_

_Grissom nodded, "And the baby?"_

Grissom still didn't know that he knew and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell him.


	7. Brass

**Title:** Changes

**Rating:** PG

**Pairings:** G/S

**Category:** Romance

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

**Summary:** It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

**A/N: **This particular chapter is a little out of character at the end, but I don't think it's too terrible, so please, no flames from the OOC police, you were warned.

**BRASS**

Jim Brass pulled up in front of the diner. The sun was coming up over the horizon and he knew it would be another hot ass day. Nothing new, September in Vegas always made you sweat. He glanced at the Denali parked a few spaces down and recognized the plates of the vehicle. Grissom and his team were probably already inside.

Entering the diner, Jim spotted Grissom, Catherine, Sara, Warrick, Nick and Greg.

"Jim, glad you could join us," Catherine said as he approached the table.

He gave her a smile and a wink, "And miss a meal with you? Never."  
That drew a round of laughs from the ground and Catherine blushed. Taking a seat beside Sara at the head of the table, Brass glanced over at the young brunette seated beside him. He smiled at her, waiting for her to turn and glare at him for staring at her, but Sara wasn't paying much attention to the police captain. He notice that –not for the first time- her attention was focused on her supervisor, who sat directly to her left.

Brass grinned, leaning closer to her as he whispered, "See something you like?"

Sara jumped, startled at being caught in a trance, and quickly drew her eyes away from Grissom and glared at Brass, trying desperately not to smile.

"What? No," she said, smirking as a blush colored her usually fair skin.

Sara had done well for so long, hiding her feeling for her supervisor, but lately she'd been slipping. Jim had to give her credit though because she'd managed to hide from trained investigators, even he had been unsure of her behavior for a while.

Now, as he sat with this group, each of whom he'd known for a fair amount of time, he paid close attention to his best friend, the enigmatic entomologist that was Gil Grissom, and the lovely lithe brunette seated beside him. While he observed them without really watching, he caught the bits of conversation going on around him. The seemingly meaningless shop talk, the anecdotes courtesy of one Greg Sanders, but mostly, they were playing catch-up, making up for the time they'd lost while their team had been split up.

Brass studied each of the CSIs at the table, each of his friends, noticing how much they had all changed.

Catherine Willows, former stripper, Lead CSI for graveyard, Swing shift supervisor, and currently back to Lead CSI for graveyard. Catherine didn't seem to be taking her demotion to hard, apart from a bitter comment here and there, she seemed to be happy being back with their group. Beside her sat Warrick Brown, recovered gambler and newly reassigned CSI III on graveyard. Although they hadn't always gotten along, Brass was glad to have Warrick back on nights, as were Grissom, Sara and Greg. Greg Sanders, rookie CSI, but veteran member of the graveyard shift. At first, Brass had been a little hesitant when his friend had told him that Sanders was going to train to be a CSI, but if Grissom had faith in him, Brass would trust him to find his killer any day. Then there was Nick Stokes, whose life had been rudely interrupted less than eight months ago when some lunatic had kidnapped him, buried him alive, and proceeded to torture him until his family had rescued him. _Family_, Brass thought, shrugging to himself, they were the closest thing to family there was.

Through all of the observing he had done through the course of the meal, the one person who had changed the most sat just to his left and had been sneaking chunks of sausage off of her supervisor's plate.

As Sara discreetly lifted another piece of sausage to her mouth, Brass smirked, announcing rather loudly, "Are you eating meat, Sara?"

Sara jumped, dropping the offending object and watching as it left a lovely grease stain on her denim covered thigh. She frowned, turning to glare at Brass as everyone else at the table watched their exchange.

"Yes," Sara told him proudly, blindly picking another chunk of sausage from Grissom's plate and popping it into her mouth.

Brass raised an eyebrow at that, making a face that reminded her of the one she often received from Grissom when she did or said something he didn't understand.

"Don't tell me that whole vegetarian kick you were on was just a way to make Grissom feel guilty for making you watch a pig decompose," Brass said, chuckling when Sara crinkled her nose in disgust.

She rolled her eyes, "I had a craving, not a big deal, happens to all pre-"

Sara suddenly stopped speaking and snapped her jaw shut. _Shit, shit, shit._ She'd almost said the p word and Brass continued to watch her, grinning now at her little slip up.

Glancing at Grissom, Sara looked for a moment like she might cry. But then, his friend did something he never thought he'd see. Grissom reached over and took Sara's hand, kissed it gently, before turning to their group to announce, "Sara's pregnant, we're engaged and… we're having a baby."

A loud round of cheering erupted from their corner booth in the small diner and Brass immediately wrapped his arms around Sara, pulling her close and whispering, "Congratulations, Cookie, I'm so proud of you."


End file.
